MAPUTO, Mozambique
Daniel Chapo, the presidential candidate of Mozambique’s ruling party, is comfortably leading the vote count in nine of the country's provinces and appears set to become the country’s next president. His closest challenger was running a distant second Wednesday as vote counting from last week’s election continued.
Preliminary results from
Wednesday’s election announced so far show Chapo leading with over 50% of the
vote in nine of Mozambique’s 11 provinces.
In the capital, Maputo, Chapo
is ahead with over 53 percent, followed by independent candidate Venancio
Mondlane at just under 34 percent.
Chapo has led at every polling
station counted, according to the chairperson of the Maputo Provincial Election
Commission, Lucilia Sitoe.
She said, “Daniel Franscisco
Chapo, 656,056, which corresponds to 68.02. Venancio Antion Bila Mondlane,
260,792, which corresponds to 27.04%.”
The two other presidential
candidates, Ossufo Momade of the opposition Renamo party, polled 9.6% of the
vote in Maputo, followed by Lutero Simango of Mozambique Democratic Movement,
MDM with 2.86%.
A similar scenario is also
occurring in the central province of Zambezia, traditionally an opposition
stronghold. There, Chapo is leading with 73%, with Mondlane a distant second
with 14.7%.
In Sofala province, another
longtime opposition stronghold, Chapo held 65% of the vote.
Turnout in Wednesday’s
election was relatively low, less than 50%. According to data shared by
electoral bodies, close to 9 million of Mozambique’s 17 million registered
voters did not vote.
In the northern province of
Nampula, the largest constituency in the country, more than 2 million voters
stayed home and tens of thousands cast blank ballots – a common form of protest
in Mozambique, showing dissatisfaction with all the candidates.
The numbers were similar in
Zambezia, the country’s second-largest constituency.
In Cabo Delgado province,
plagued by an insurgency by Islamist militants for several years, 925,000
people did not vote, 35,000 cast blank ballots and another 18,000 votes were
spoiled.
The chairman of Mozambique’s
national elections commission vowed that every ballot cast will be counted.
He said, “Every vote will be
counted definitely, we are ready for that. The counting system is participatory
because all the political parties are represented at polling stations so every
vote will count and we just hope for the best.”
Final results are expected in
about two weeks. Independent political analyst Dercio Alfazema said the next
president faces high expectations from the public.
“Our expectations are number
one, is to be well governed, so we have a challenge to obtain a better result,
the people want the end of corruption, we are looking for more security, we are
looking for more health service and the quality of education, the extension of
the services such as infrastructure. We also have the problem of terrorism in
the north, the kidnappings; the young people are looking for jobs and some
opportunities,” said Alfazema.
The president-elect will be
sworn into office in January, when current President Filipe Nyusi, who is
barred by the constitution from running again, steps down at the end of his
second five-year term.
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